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Snubbing Green (Gently), Sharpton Backs de Blasio

Chester Higgins Jr./The New York TimesMark Green and the Rev. Al Sharpton in 2001, when the two men bitterly clashed during Mr. Green’s race for mayor.

The Rev. Al Sharpton had a chance on Thursday to take a swipe at Mark Green again. But he would only go so far.

Yes, he was at City Hall to endorse City Councilman Bill de Blasio‘s bid to become the next public advocate. And yes, his endorsement — the first he’s made for a citywide race this year — meant that he was snubbing Mr. Green, who held the job from 1994 to 2001 and is considered the favorite. But asked every which way, Mr. Sharpton repeatedly declined to say anything untoward about Mr. Green, despite their checkered history together.

“He and I have had an interesting history since the ’90s; there’s a thing called 2001,” Mr. Sharpton allowed.

During Mr. Green’s tenure, he and Mr. Sharpton worked closely as counterweights to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. But their relationship soured — big time — during the 2001 mayoral campaign, when Mr. Green was accused of playing racial politics in defeating the former Bronx borough president, Fernando Ferrer, in the Democratic primary. A now-infamous New York Post cartoon depicting Mr. Ferrer graphically cozying up to Mr. Sharpton did not help, especially when Mr. Green initially refused to investigate and even said that he preferred to spend his time on the city budget.

But Mr. Sharpton said that the memories of 2001 had no bearing on his endorsement in 2009. Indeed, he said that Mr. de Blasio was the best candidate — “by far” — because of his strong opposition to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg‘s successful bid to upend term limits last year, and his focus on issues like a high unemployment rate among African-Americans in the city.

“I wouldn’t say that it was a tortured decision,” Mr. Sharpton said. “This is not anti-Mark Green; this is pro-Bill de Blasio. I fully support him and intend to be out on the road campaigning for him.”

For his part, Mr. de Blasio could barely contain his enthusiasm over the impact of Mr. Sharpton’s endorsement.

“You’re a conscience for this city, and for this country,” said Mr. de Blasio, who represents Brooklyn and has garnered strong support from unions and minority groups. “I can’t think of any endorsement any more important because of the depth of feeling for Rev. Sharpton throughout this city.”

The public advocate’s race is shaping up to be one of the more intriguing contests in the Sept. 15 primary. The two other Democrats in the race are Norman Siegel, the well-known civil liberties lawyer, and City Councilman Eric N. Gioia of Queens, who leads the field by wide margins in both fund-raising ($2.4 million) and the number of contributors (3,999).

The race is becoming so competitive, in fact, that on Thursday, the city’s Campaign Finance Board, agreeing with a request from Mr. Gioia, concluded that it was “reasonably anticipated” that no candidate would receive 40 percent of the vote. So the board permitted candidates to begin raising money for a possible runoff.

YENTA HERE!
They are both listed as being members of Allen Roskoff’s Jim Owles Liberal Democrats group.
As a professional female impersonator I campaigned for Mark when he ran for mayor but, I refused to join that group even though I have great respect for long time Gay Rights Activist Allen Roskoff who started and runs it.
Between Al Sharpton and a drag queen that I haven’t spoken to for the past ten years, I told Allen that I’m not that liberal.

I don’t even get why Mark Green is even considered for the public advocate gig….Mark should be good for the gig (cause he was the last defining PA) but i don’t even know who he is…that’s the legacy he built from 2001 and mark has not addressed that legacy well — in fact he has cemented the idea that he is a sleazy pol with a concern for his own power interest (and with a mayor who sidestepped a voter backed overturn of term limits for a city council sponsored third run — a PA with an ego seems less like a counterbalance).

sharpton didn’t support mark in 2001 and i wouldn’t suspect after the ‘white ethnic’ scare that sharpton would support mark. sharpton’s endorsement will not help nor hender bill in his PA run.

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